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MAYNARD*S 

English- Classic- Series 



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THE GOLD BUG 



^EDGAR ALLAN POE^ 



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— i—i— I— I — I— I— I— I — I — I — I— 1—1— 



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NEW YORK: 

Maynard, Merrill, & Co., 

29, 31, AND 33 East Nineteenth Street, 



J 



^ 



ENGLISH CLASSIC SERIES, 

worn 
Classes in English Literature^ Beading, Grammar, etc. 

lOlTED BY EMINENT ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SCHOLARS. 

Each Volume contairu a Sketch of the Author's Lift^ Prefatory and 
Explanatory N^oteSt etc.^ etc. , 



1 Byron's Fropheoy off Dante. 

(Cantos I. and II.) 

2 Milton's li' Allegro, and II Pen- 

seroso. 
8 liord Bacon's Sssays, Civil and 

Moral. (Selected.) 
4 Byron's Prisoner of Chillon. 
B Moore's Fire "Worshippers. 

(Lalla Rookh. Selected.) 

6 Goldsmith's Deserted Tillai^e. 

7 Scott's Mar m ion. (Selections 

from Canto VI.) 

8 Scott's Lay of the I^ast Minstrel. 

(Introduction and Canto I.) 

9 Burns'sCotter'sSaturdayNight, 

and other Poems. 

10 Crabbe's The Tillagre. 

11 Campbell ^8 Pleasures of Hope. 

(Abridgment of Part I.) 
IS Maoaulay's £s8ay on Bunyan's 

Pllgrrim's Progress. 
18 Macaulay's Armada, and other 

Poems. 

14 Shakespeare's Merchant of Te- 

nSce. (Selections from Ac*^^« I., 
III., and IV.) 

15 Goldsmith's TraTeller. 

16 Hogg's Queen's Wake, and Kil- 

meny. 

17 Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. 

18 Addison's Sir Roger de Cover- 

ley. 

19 Gray's Elegy in a Country 

Churchyard. 

20 Scott'sLady of the liake. (Canto 

I.) 

21 Shakespeare's As You Iiike It, 

etc. (Selections.) 

Z2 Shakespeare's King John, and 
Richard II. (Selections.) 

23 Shakespeare's Henry IT., Hen- 
ry v., Henry VI. (Selections.) 

S4 Shakespeare's Henry VIII. , and 
Julius Caesar. (Selections.) 

25 Wordsworth's Excursion. (Bk.I.) 

26 Pope's Essay on Criticism. 

27 Spenser'sFaerieQneene. (Cantos 

I. and II.) 

28 Cowper's Task. (Book I.) 

29 Milton's Comus. 

30 Tennyson's Enoch Arden, The 

Lotus Eaters, Ulysses, and 
Tithonus. 



31 Irring's Sketch Book. (Seie«> 

tions.) 

32 Dickens's Christmas Carol. 

(Condensed.) 

33 Carlyle's Hero as a Prophet, 

34 Macaulay's Warren Hastings* 

(Condensed.) 
36 Goldsmith's Vicar of; Wake- 
field. (Condensed.) 

36 Tennyson '^s The Two Voices, 

and A Dream of Fair Women. 

37 Memory Quotations. 

38 Cavalier Poets. 

39 Dryden's Alexander's Fee^st, 

and MacFlecknoe. 

40 Keats's The Eve of St. Agnes. 

41 Irving.'s Legend of Sleepy Hol- 

low. 

42 Lamb's Tales from Shake- 

speare. 

43 L.e Row's How to Teach Read- 

ing. 

44 Webster's Bunker Hill Orfi\- 

tions. 

45 The Academy Orthofipist. A 

Manual of Pronunciation. 

46 Milton's Lycidas, and Hy.uiQ 

on the Nativity. 

47 Bryant's Thanatopsis, and othfT 

Poems. 

48 Ruskin's Modern Painterti. 

(Selections.) 

49 The Shakespeare Speaker. 

50 Thackeray's Roundabout Pa- 

pers. 

51 Webster's Oration on Adams 

and Jefferson. 

52 Brown's Rab and his Friends. 

53 Morris's Life and Death of 

Jason. 

54 Burke's Speech OH American 

Taxation. 

55 Pope's Rape of the Lock. 

56 Tennyson's Elaine. 

57 Tennyson's In MenioHam. 

58 Church's Story of the .^neid . 

59 Church's Story of the Iliad. 

60 Swift's Gulliver's Voyage to 

liilliput. 

61 Macaulay's Essay on Lord Ba- 

con. ((Condensed.) 

62 The Alcestis of Euripides. T <?• 

lish Version by Rev. R. Potter,^!, i. 



(Additional numbers on next page.) 



MAYNARB'8 ENGL ISH CLASSIC SERIES.-No. 804 

ii h'lm i -^'"^ jj 

THE GOLILJBUG 



EDGAR ALLAN FOE 



WITH INTRODUCTION, CRITICAL OPINIONS, 
AND NOTES 



EDNA H. TUEPIN 




NEW YOEK 
' MAYNARD, MERRILL, & CO. 

W Series, No. 33. February 12, 1898. Published Semi-weekly. Subscrip- 
[on Price $10. Entered at Post Qffice, New York, as Second-class Matter. 



\--h<^\ 



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2572 




Copyr,ght.„.898. by Mavk.hd. Me.k,,;.. & Co, 



\) INTRODUCTION 

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, January 19, 1809. 
His father, a man of proud lineage and profligate habits, was a 
native of Baltimore ; when twenty-six years old he married an 
actress, and took up the precarious life of a strolling player. 
After six years of theatrical wandering and poverty, both died, 
in 1811, leaving three children to be reared by the charity of 
friends. Edgar, the second child, was adopted by Mr. John 
Allan, a tobacco merchant of Richmond, who gave him his 
name and provided liim with all the dangerous luxuries of 
wealth. In 1815 he accompanied Mr. Allan to England, and 
' was placed at school in Stoke Newington, a suburb of London; 
his memories of this place are thought to be preserved in the 
tale of William Wilsofi. He returned to Richmond in 1820. 
At various private schools he distinguished himself in classical 
studies and athletic exercises, and commanded recognition as a 
^ leader : but he was not popular with his aristocratic compan- 
J^ ions, who reminded him by their treatment that he was the son 
of poor actors ; and the feeling that he was an outcast, in 
spite of the affluence in which his life was spent, began to ex- 
ercise a bad influence upon the development of his character. 

He spent the year of 1826 at the University of Virginia, de- 
voting his time principally to linguistic studies. He received 
proficiencies in Latin and French — the highest honors of the 
University, which had then made no provision for conferring 
degrees. He had, however, contracted gambling debts. 
These Mr. Allan refused to pay, and he assigned his adopted 
son a desk in his counting-room. But the self-willed youth, 
spoiled by indulgence, was not amenable to discipline or 
restraint. He had written a few poems at the University, 
wL'ich had gained him flattering credit as a poet among his 
f .illow-students ; with these as present capital, and his genius 
t 1^ draw upon in future, he determined to set up business as an 



4 INTRODUCTION 

author. Abandoning home and its luxuries, he made his way 
to Boston, and obtained a publisher for his juvenile verses, 
which appeared in 1827, with the title, Tamerlane, and otJie? 
Poems. By a Bostonian. But poetry did not long supply 
him with bread, and driven by necessity, he enlisted in th|( 
army. At the end of two years' service a reconciliation witp 
his foster-father was effected, and he w^as sent to West Point. 
While awaiting his appointment he published a second volume 
of poems, 1829, entitled, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor 
Poems. All of these early poems are crude and imitative, 
Byron being his chief master. Al Aaraaf is an incompre- 
hensible allegory, exhibiting, however, some of the qualities 
that were to characterize his later work, especially his " at- 
tempt to seize the impalpable, to fix the evanescent, to per- 
ceive the supersensual." 

Poe had now chosen his profession ; but after six months of 
the discipline of cadet life he determined to abandon it, brought 
about his own expulsion, Mr. Allan having refused to recog- 
nize his resignation, and returned to Richmond in disgrace ; 
providing, however, for the immediate future by a new edi- 
tion of his verses, liberally subscribed for by the students, 
which was published in New York, in 1880, entitled simply 
Poems. This episode caused the final rupture with his long- 
suffering benefactor. Friendless, penniless, and with no hope 
of an inheritance, he now began the uneven struggle of povertj 
with letters, which for seventeen years was maintained with 
little surcease of bitterness and suffering. In 1838 he won a 
literary prize of one hundred dollars with a prose tale, A MS. 
Found in a Bottle. By this success he secured friends, repu- 
tation, and a position as editor of the Southern Literary Mes- 
senger. 

He had been living in Baltimore w^ith his aunt, Mrs. Clemm, 
and in 1886 married her daughter Virginia, a mere child, beau- 
tiful, and sylph-like as one of the imaginary beings of his own 
creation. For many years she was an invalid, and died in 
1847, at the age of twenty-five. Poe's love for this child-wife, 
says Mr. Graham, "was a sort of rapturous worship of the 
spirit of beauty, which he felt was fading before his eyes. aL 
have seen him hovering around her when she was ill, with al. 



INTRODUCTION 5 

the fond fear and tender anxiety of a mother for her first- 
born, her slightest cough causing him a shudder, a heart-chill 
that was visible." Mrs. Clemm proved, indeed, more than a 
mother to him. She took entire charge of his household, 
received and expended his meager wages, and with saint-like 
devotion watched over him through sickness, grief, and de- 
spair, until the last. She was, says N. P. Willis, "his minis- 
tering angel, living with him, caring for him, guarding him 
against exposure ; and when he was carried away by tempta- 
tion, amid grief and the loneliness of feelings unreplied to, 
and awoke from his self-abandonment, prostrated in destitu- 
tion and suffering, begging for him still." 

For a brief period Poe was prosperous and comparatively • 
happy. The Messenger was successful, and through his imag- 
inative tales and critical essays he was rapidly winning fame. 
But the editorial harness always chafed him. He was proud 
and morbidly sensitive, and compared his toilsome life with 
the career of independence that his youth had promised. His 
work was ill-paid, and he could not gratify his poetic tastes 
and aspirations ; his mind was jaded by the constant applica- 
tion necessary to keep the wolf from the door, and his genius 
denied its free and best expression. He was subject to fits of 
melancholy and despair, and cried out in anguish against fate. 
Moreover, the demon of the cup was always at his side, offer- 
ing the nepenthe that was his ultimate ruin. It is not strange, 
therefore, that his life was made up of spasmodic efforts, 
quarrels with publishers and friends, and wanderings from 
place to place in the vain hope of rebuilding his shattered for- 
tunes. Besides contributing to innumerable periodicals, he 
was successively engaged in editorial work on The Gentleman's 
Magazine and Graham's Magazine in Philadelphia, and the 
Evening Mirror and Broadway Journal in New York. But 
the struggle was always a losing one, and ended in a hospital 
/n Baltimore, October 7,' 1849. *' At the moment when, rally- 
ng from the desolation caused by the loss of his wife, he 
found new hope and purpose, and was on his way to marry a 
I /Oman who possibly might have saved him, the tragedy of his 
^ife began again. Its final scene was as swift, irreparable, 
alack with terror, as that of any drama ever written. His 



6 INTRODUCTION 

death was gloom. Men saw him no more ; but the shadow of 
a veiled old woman, mourning for him, hovered here and 
there. After many years a laureled tomb was placed above 
his ashes, and there remain to American literature the relics, 
so unequal in value, of the most isolated and exceptional of all 
its poets and pioneers." 

In personal bearing Poe was reserved and austere ; erect m 
stature, with finely modeled head, broad brow, large black 
eyes that exercised a kind of fascination when moved by 
thought or emotion, habitually dressed in black, with faultless 
taste and simplicity, he always presented an appearance of 
scholarly distinction and refinement. His usual expression 
was dreamy and sad ; though brilliant in society, and depend- 
ent upon friendship — especially that of women — for his moral 
strength, he dwelt alone, attended only by the genius of his 
dreams. His thoughts, emotions, and convictions were all 
drawn from the world of the ideal and the beautiful. " With 
me," he says, " poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion." 
He possessed true genius, but genius limited in its range. He 
was the poet of a single mood, and his poetical reputation 
res-ts upon two or three short lyrics. The highest reaches of 
his imagination are found in the Tales. They are often un- 
wholesome reading, picturing with marvelous power the 
regions of mystery and horror that lie upon the border-land of 
the infernal ; yet they are often transfused with a symbolism 
that lights up the darkness with spiritual beauty. As a 
romancer he was inferior to Hawthorne only in delicacy and 
grace of style. In feeling he was always a poet, in ex- 
pression he always worked as an artist. "Regarding this 
sensitive artist, this original poet, it seems indeed a tragedy 
that a man so ideal in either realm, so unfit for contact with 
ugliness, dullness, brutality, should have come to eat husks 
with the swine, to be misused by their human counterpartf., 
and to die the death of a drunkard, in the refuge which societ i 
offers to the most forlorn and hopeless of its castaways." } 



CRITICAL OPINIONS 

His biography explains what his tales allow one to guess, 
that he remained to the end ignorant of life— with the pitiful 
ignorance of a gifted, wayward child. Unerring as were some 
of his intuitions, profoundly as he knew some of the dark 
secrets of the heart, life has wide sunny spaces in wiiicli he 
never wandered, uplands that he never cared to climb. " Poe 
did not know enough to be a great poet," said Sidney Lanier, 
nor did he love enough. — Bliss Perry; Preface to^ Poe's Tides, 

Edgar Allan Poe stands solitary among the American men 
of letters. Although, by a strange chance, born in Boston, he 
had nothing in common with the New England group of 
authors, and although he passed an important part of his life 
in New York City, he was in no way a member of the Knick- 
erbocker school. Whether viewed as poet, romancer, or critic, 
he stands by himself ; he refuses to be classified ; he seems 
out of place in American literature, like an importation from 
the Old World— a Pushkin, or Heine, or De Musset ; like a 
brilliant exotic among tJie native wild flowers. . . 

It was perhaps in the short prose romance that Poe was at 
his best, for here his imagination had free play. His tales, all 
of which are short, and which, when combined, scarcely make 
(I volume of the size of Hawthorne's Twice Told Tales, may be 
^livided into two classes : imaginative tales and analytical tales. 
Of the former, only tw^o, Ligeia and The Fall of the House of 
Usher, need be mentioned. These mark the flood tide of Poe's 
('creative achievement. . . The second division of Poe's tales 
may be understood best from his ingenious tale. The Gold 
pug. Poe's brain was keen and electric. He had the analytic 
fjaculty in a high degree, and he delighted in applying it to the 
sjolution of almost impossible problems. . . His plots are 
^jirranged with great skill, and the reader is drawn rapidly to 
the climax in the w^ay that will most completely unnerve him. 
jj^oe's one thought was of the effect he was producing on his 

7 



8 CRITICAL OPINIONS 

reader. Instruction and moral lessons had, he maintained, nc 
place in fiction. — F. L. Pattee : American Literature. 

Poe^is often, and correctly enough, termed a romancer. 
Certainly he was a writer of ornate, yet vision-bred and 
illusive legends of some dreamland of his own, and not a 
novelist observing our everyday world. His rarest tales have 
the quality of pure romance, and otherwise his inventive prose 
is concerned with incident and adventure rather than with the 
portrayal of human character. This of course, since he was a 
poet, and few of the breed are novelists. The Tales of Con- 
science with the extraordinary confession of William Wilson at 
their head show that the artist was a psychologist as well, 
although his insight was applied almost solely to the morbid 
processes of remorse and guilty fear. As we turn to his other 
stories, it appears that some injustice has been done to his 
versatilit3% plainly owing to the monotone of Jiis poems in 
verse and prose. The man is to be envied for his working 
hours if pitied for his struggles and distraught career. He 
enjoyed the play of his mind as thoroughly as an athlete put- 
ting his thews to the test for the delight of action. This 
dreamer figures as the most alert of journalists in the banter 
and extravagance of minor pieces ; he is an adept at laborious 
hoaxes and queerly elaborate imaginings of scientific experi- 
ment. We find him, most of all, pluming himself upon the 
intricate trail-hunting for w^hich he developed such a bent in 
his creation, by The Purloined Letter, The Murders in the Rue 
Morgue y and The Mystery of Marie Roget of the far too vital 
school of police fiction. At the other extreme, and when most 
in earnest, he fails— as who indeed could not ? — to solve the 
secret of the Absolute. Yet, considered neither as sound 
physics nor as metaphysics, how suggestive all this mass of 
fiction and speculation ! The writings in which he beconaes 
tedious, and often seems to labor, are tales of preposterous 
adventure, notably that of ArtJiur Gordon Pym. . . Therr 
is no evidence that he visited the countries where the scenes ol 
his Old-World romances are laid, but he captured the spirit or 
each until infused with it. In instinct for tone, he stands at 
the head. Following him up in other directions, we recognize 
bis brain-power, the energy of a strong engine often in need of 



CEITICAL OPIII^IONS 9 

a steady driver. He was full of speculation, light and serious 
by turns, concerning the possibilities of science, and had the 
fine curiosity, if not the temper and habit, of a savant. Noth- 
ing of knowledge was alien to him : he had at least a capricious 
passion for intellectual truth, and a prophetic turn of his 
own. . , Nowadays a literary style is often most in evidence 
through the effort to make it appear unstudied. Poe's 
mastery, like Ruskin's, is that of sheer intensity, poetic elo- 
quence, and word-painting, in brilliant passages such as the 
iridescent and cumulative finale of ArnJieim. But of style in 
the modern sense, with its outlawry of stock words and 
phrases, adroit rather than instinctive grace and consonance, 
and the maintenance of a grade once taken, he was not a 
master, nor was there any master in his day. . . . He started 
a revolt against " the didactic," and was our natipnal propa- 
gandist of the now hackneyed formula, Art for Art's sake, 
and of the creed that in perfect beauty consists the fullest 
truth. . . . These tales . . . were written by an ill-paid 
journalist, at a time when his own country depended on foreign 
spoliation for its imaginative reading. When they show him 
at his worst, his exigencies justly may be borne in mind ; if 
his style seems often formless and disjointed, it must be 
remembered that he wrote before the days of Arnold and 
Pater, of Flaubert, Daudet, and Maupassant.^ — E. G. Stedman: 
Introduction to Foe's Tales. 

For us it is enough to know that you were compelled to live 
by your pen, and that in an age when the author of To Helen 
and The Cask of Amontillado was paid at the rate of a dollar a 
column. When such poverty was the mate of such pride as 
yours, a misery more deep than that of Burns', an agony 
h< 1)1%^^ ^^^^ *^^^^ ^f Chatterton's, were inevitable and assured. 
-Qj ^^^ man was less fortunate than you in the moment of his 
birth, infelix opjportunitate mtce. Had you lived a generation 
later, honor, wealth, applause, success in Europe and home, 
would all have been yours. Within thirty years so great 
a change has passed over the profession of letters in America ; 
and it is impossible to estimate the rewards which would have 
if alien to Edgar Poe, had chance made him the contemporary 
<pf Mark Twain and of Called Back. It may be that your 



10 CRITICAL OPINIONS 

criticisms helped to bring in the new era, and to lift letters or t 
of the reach of quite unlettered scribblers. Though not 
a scholar, at least you had a respect for scholarship. . . 
Best known in your own day as a critic, it is as a poet and a 
writer of short tales that you must live. But to discuss 
your few elaborate poems is a waste of time, so completely 
does your own brief definition of poetry, ** the rhythmic 
creation of the beautiful," exhaust your theory, and so per- 
fectly is the theory illustrated by the poems. Natural bent and 
reaction against the example of Mr. Longfellow^ com- 
bined to make you too intolerant of what you call "the 
didactic" element in verse. Humanity must always be, to the 
majority of men, the true stuff of poetry ; and only a minority 
will thank you for that rare music which (like the strains of 
the fiddle in the story) is touched on a single string, and on 
an instrument fashioned from the spoils of the grave. You 
chose, or you were destined ** To vary from the kindly race of 
men," and the consequences, which wasted your life, pursue 
your reputation. For your stories has been reserved a bound- 
less popularity, and that highest success — the success of a per- 
fectly sympathetic translation. An English critic (probably a 
Northerner at heart), has described them as " Haw^thorne and 
delirium tremens." I am not aware that extreme orderliness, 
masterly elaboration, and unchecked progress toward a pre- 
determined effect are characteristic of the visions of delirium. 
If they be, then there is a great deal of truth in the criticism, 
and a good deal of delirium tremens in your style. But your 
ingenuit3^ your completeness, your occasional luxuriance of 
fancy, and wealth of jewel-like words, are not, perhaps, gifts 
which Mr. Hawthorne had at his command. He w^as a great 

writer — the greatest writer in pure fiction whom Americr iS 

»me£ 
produced. But you and he have not much in comrn j, 

except a certain mortuary turn of mind and a taste for gloomy 

allegories about the workings of conscience. . . Farewell, 

farewell, thou somber and solitary spirit : a genius tethered to 

the hack-work of the press, a gentleman among canaille, a poet 

among poetasters, dowered with a scholar's taste withoit 

a scholar's training, embittered by his sensitive scorn, and all 

unsupported by his consolation. — Andrew Lang: Letters to 

Dead Authors. 



THE GOLD BUG 

What ho! what ho ! this fellow is dancing mad ! 
He hath been bitten by the Tarantula. 

— All in the Wrong, 

Many years ago, I contracted an intimacy with a 
Mr. William Legrand. He was of an ancient Hugue- 
not family, and had once been wealthy; but a series 
of misfortunes had reduced him to want. To avoid 
the mortification consequent upon his disasters, he 5 
left Kew Orleans, the city of his forefathers, and 
took up his residence at SuUivan^s Island, near 
Charloston, South Carolina. 

This island is a very singular one. It consists of 
little else than the sea sand, and is about three miles 10 
long. Its breadth at no point exceeds a quarter of 
a mile. It is separated from the mainland by a 
scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a 
wilderness of reeds and slime, a favorite resort of the 
marsh-hen. The vegetation, as might be supposed, 15 
is scant, or at least dwarfish. No trees of any mag- 
nitude are to be seen. Near the western extremity, 
where Fort Moultrie stands, and where are some 



2. Huguenots. The Huguenots were French Protestants who, by the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which in 1598 had granted them civil 
and religious liberty, wiere in 1685 driven into exile. Many settled in South 
Caroling. 



12 THE GOLD BUG 

miserable frame buildingS;, tenanted during summer 
by the fugitives from Charleston dust and fever, may 
be found, indeed, the bristly palmetto; but the whole 
island, with the exception of the western point, and a 

5 line of hard, white beach on the seacoast, is covered 
with a dense undergrowth of the sweet myrtle, so 
much prized by the horticulturists of England. The 
shrub here often attains the height of fifteen or 
twenty feet, and forms an almost impenetrable cop- 

10 pice, burdening the air with its fragrance. 

In the utmost recesses of this coppice, not far 
from the eastern or more remote end of the island, 
Legrand had built himself a small hut, which 
he occupied when I first, by mere accident, made 

15 his acquaintance. This soon ripened into friend- 
ship — for there was much in the recluse to excite 
interest and esteem. I found him well educated, 
• with unusual powers of mind, but infected with mis- 
anthropy, and subject to perverse moods of alter- 

30 nate enthusiasm and melancholy. He had with 
him many books, but rarely employed them. His 
chief amusements were gunning and fishing, or 
sauntering along the beach and through the myrtles, 
in quest of shells or entomological specimens; — his 

25 collection of the latter might have been envied by a 
Swammerdamm. In these excursions he was usually 
accompanied by an old negro, called Jupiter, who had 
been manumitted before the reverses of the family, 
but who could be induced, neither by threats nor by 

30 promises, to abandon what he considered his rights of 

26. Jan Swammerdamm. (1637-1680.) A Dutch naturalist. 



THE GOLD BUG 13 

attendance upon the footsteps of his young " Massa 
Will/' It is not improbable that the relatives of Le- 
grand^ conceiving him to be somewhat unsettled in 
intellect^ had contrived to instill this obstinacy into 
Jupiter^ with a view to the supervision and guardian- 5 
ship of the wanderer. 

The winters in the latitude of Sullivan's Island are 
seldom very severe^ and in the fall of the year it is 
a rare event indeed when a fire is considered neces- 
sary. About the middle of October^ 18 — ^ there oc- 10 
curred^ however^ a day of remarkable chilliness. 
Just before sunset I scrambled my way through the 
evergreens to the hut of my friend^ whom I had not 
visited for several weeks — my residence beings at that 
time\, in Charleston^ a distance of nine miles from 15 
the island^ while the facilities of passage and re- 
passage were very far behind those of the present day. 
Upon reaching the hut I rapped as was my custom, 
and, getting no reply^ sought for the key where I 
knew it was secreted, unlocked the door and went in. 20 
A fine fire was blazing upon the hearth. It was a 
novelty, and by no means an ungrateful one. I 
threw off an overcoat, took an arm-chair by the 
crackling logs, and awaited patiently the arrival of 
my hosts. 25 

Soon after dark they arrived, and gave me a most 
cordial welcome. Jupiter, grinning from ear to ear, 
bustled about to prepare some marsh-hens for supper. 
Legrand was in one of his fits^ — how else shall I term 
them?— of enthusiasm. He had found an unknown 30 
bivalve forming a new genus, and, more than this, 
he had hunted down and secured, with Jupiter's 



14 THE GOLD BUG 

assistance^ a scarahccus which he believed to be totally 
new, but in respect to which he wished to have my 
opinion on the morrow. 

^^And why not to-night?^' I asked, rubbing my 
5 hands over the blaze, and wishing the whole tribe of 
scardbcei at the devil. 

^^ Ah, if I had only known you were here! ^^ said 
Legrand, " but it^s so long since I saw you; and how 
could I foresee that you would pay me a visit this 
10 very night of all others? As I was coming home I 
met Lieutenant G from the fort, and, very fool- 
ishly, I lent him the bug; so it will be impossible for 
you to see it until the morning. Stay here to-night, 
and I will send Jup down for it at sunrise. It is the 
15 loveliest thing in creation! ^^ 
" What?— sunrise? '' 

'' Konsense! no! — the bug. It is of a brilliant gold 

color — about the size of a large hickory-nut — with 

two jet-black spots near one extremity of the back, 

20 and another, somewhat longer, at the other. The 

a7itennce are ^^ 

^^ Dey aint no tin in him, Massa Will, I keep a 

tellin on you,'^ here interrupted Jupiter; ^^ de bug is 

a goole-bug, solid, ebery bit of him, inside and all, 

25 sep him wing — neber feel half so hebby a bug in my 

life.^^ 

^^ Well, suppose it is, Jup,'' replied Legrand, some^ 
what more earnestly, it seemed to -me, than the case 
demanded, "is that any reason for your letting 

1. Scarabaeus. (L.) A genus of beetles. The beetle (Scarab) was 
worshiped by the ancient Egyptians, who regarded it as an emblem of 
fecundity and of the resurrection. 



THE GOLD BUG 15 

the birds burn?. The color ^^ — here he turned to 
me^ — " is really almost enough to warrant Jupiter^s 
idea. You never saw a more brilliant metallic luster 
than the scales emit — but of this you cannot judge 
till to-morrow. In the meantime I can give you* 5 
some idea of the shape.^^ Saying this^ he seated him- 
self at a small table, on which were a pen and ink, 
but no paper. He looked for some in a drawer, but 
found none. 

" Never mind/' said he at length, " this will an- 10 
swer/' and he drew from his waistcoat pocket a scrap 
of what I took to be very dirty foolscap, and made 
upon it a rough drawing with the pen. While he did 
this, I retained my seat by the fire, for I was still 
chilly. When the design was complete, he handed it 15 
to me without rising. As I received it, a loud growl 
was heard, succeeded by a scratching at the door. 
Jupiter opened it, and a large Newfoundland, be- 
longing to Legrand, rushed in, leaped upon my 
shoulders, and loaded me with caresses; for I had 20 
shown him much attention during previous visits. 
When his gambols were over, I looked at the paper, 
and, to speak the truth, found myself not a little 
puzzled at what my friend had depicted. 

^*^Well!" I said, after contemplating it for some 25 
minutes, " this is a strange scarabceus^ I must confess; 
new to me: never saw anything like it before^ — unless 
it was a skull, or a death's-head, which it more nearly 
resembles than anything else that has come under 
my observation." 30 

^^A death's-head! " echoed Legrand. ^^ Oh — yes 
—well, it has something of that appearance upon 



16 THE GOLD BUG 

paper, no doubt. The two upper black spots look 
like eyes, eh? and the longer one at the bottom like 
a mouth — and then the shape of the whole is oval/^ 
" Perhaps so/^ said I; " but, Legrand, I fear you 

5 are no artist. I must wait until I see the beetle 
itself, if I am to form any idea of its personal ap- 
pearance.^^ 

" Well, I don^t know,^^ said he, a little nettled, " I 
draw tolerably — should do it at least — have had good 

10 masters, and flatter myself that I am not quite a 
blockhead.^^ 

" But, my dear fellow, you are joking then,^^ said 
I; '' this is a very passable skull — indeed, I may say 
that it is a very excellent skull, according to the vul- 

15 gar notions about such specimens of physiology — and 
your scaraiceus must be the queerest scarabceus in 
the world if it resembles it. Why, we may get up a 
very thrilling bit of superstition upon this hint. I 
presume you will call the bug scaraiceus caput 

20 homiiiisy or something of that kind — there are many 
similar titles in the Natural Histories. But where 
are the antennce you spoke of?^^ 

" The antennce ! ^^ said Legrand, who seemed to be 
getting unaccountably warm upon the subject; " I 

25 am sure you must see the antennce. I made them as 
distinct as they are in the original insect, and I pre- 
sume that is suflficient.^^ 

" Well, well,^^ I said, " perhaps you have — still I 
don^t see them;" and I handed him the paper with- 

30 out additional remark, not wishing to ruffle his tem- 
per; but I was much surprised at the turn affairs had 
taken; his ill humor puzzled me — and, as for the 



THE GOLD BUG 17 

drawing of the beetle, there were positively no 
antennce visible, and the whole did bear a very close 
resemblance to the ordinary cuts of a death^s head. 
He received the paper very peevishly, and was 
about to crumple it, apparently to throw it in the 5 
fire, when a casual glance at the design seemed sud- 
denly to rlvetTiis attention. In an instant his face 
grew violently red — in another as excessively pale. 
For some minutes he continued to scrutinize the 
drawing minutely where he sat. At length he arose, 10 
took a candle from the table, and proceeded to seat 
himself upon a sea-chest in the farthest corner of the 
room. Here again he made an anxious examination 
of the paper; turning it in all directions. He said 
nothing, however, and his conduct greatly astonished 15 
me; yet I thought it prudent not to exacerbate the 
growing moodiness of his temper by any comment. 
Presently he took from his coat pocket a wallet, 
placed the paper carefully in it, and deposited both 
in a writing-desk, which he locked. He now grew 20 
more composed in his demeanor; but his original air 
of enthusiasm had quite disappeared. Yet he seemed 
not so much sulky as abstracted. As the evening 
wore away he became more and more absorbed in 
reverie, from which no sallies of mine could arouse 25 
him. It had been my intention to pass the night at 
the hut, as I had 'frequently done before, but, seeing 
my host in this mood, I deemed it proper to take 
leave. He did not press me to remain, but, as I de- 
parted, he shook my hand with even more than his 30 
usual cordiality. 

16. Exacerbate. (L. ea;, from + «^^^i sharp.) Aggravate. 



18 THE GOLD BUG 

It was about a month after this (and during the 
interval I had seen nothing of Legrand) when I re- 
ceived a visits at Charleston, from his man, Jupiter. 
I had never seen the good old negro look so dis- 
5 pirited, and I feared that some serious disaster had 
befallen my friend. 

'' Well, Jup/^ said I, " what is the matter now? — 
how is your master? ^^ 

" Why, to speak de troof, massa, him not so berry 
10 well as mought be/^ 

'^ Not well! I am truly sorry to hear it. What 
does he complain of? ^^ 

" Dar! dat's it! — him neber plain of notin — ^but 
him berry sick for all dat.^^ 
15 " Very sick, Jupiter! — why didn^t you say so at 
once? Is he confined to bed? ^' 

^' No, dat he aint! — he aint find nowhar — dat's 
just whar de shoe pinch — my mind is got to be berry 
hebby bout poor Massa Will.'^ 
20 '' Jupiter, I should like to understand what it is 
you are talking about. You say your master is sick. 
Hasn't he told you what ails him? '^ 

" Why, massa, taint worf while for to git mad bout 
de matter — Massa Will say noffin at all aint de matter 
25 wid him — but. den what make him go bout looking 
dis here way, wid he head down and he soldiers up, 
and as white as a gose? And den he keep a syphon 
all de time '^ 

'' Keeps a what, Jupiter? ^^ 
30 " Keeps a syphon wid de figgurs on de ^slate — de 
queerest figgurs I ebber did see. Ise gittin to be 
skeered, I tell you. Hab for to keep mighty tight 



THE GOLD BUG 19 

eye pon him noovers. Todder day he gib me sHp 
fore de sun up and was gone de whole ob de blessed 
day. I had a big stick ready cut for to gib him 
deuced good beating when he did come^ — but Ise sich 
a fool dat I hadn^t de heart arter all — he look so 5 
berry poorly/^ 

"Eh? — what? — ah yes! — upon the whole I think 
you had better not be too severe with the poor fellow 
— don't flog him^ Jupiter — he can't very well stand 
it — but can you form no idea of what has occasioned 10 
this illness^ or rather this change of conduct? Has 
anything unpleasant happened since I saw you? '' 

" No^ massa^ dey aint bin noffln onpleasant since 
den- — 'twas fore den I'm feared — 'twas de berry day 
you was dare." 15 

'^ How ? what do you mean ? " 

'^' Why^ massa^, I mean de bug — dare now." 

"The what?" 

"De bug — I'm berry sartain dat Massa Will bin 
bit somewhere bout de head by dat goole-bug." 20 

" And what cause have you^ Jupiter^ for such a 
supposition?" 

" Claws enuff^ massa^ mouff too. I nebber did see 
sich a deuced bug — he kick and he bite ebery ting 
what cum near him. Massa Will cotch him fuss^ but 25 
had for to let him go gin mighty quick^ I tell you — 
den was de time he must hab got de bite. I didn't 
like de look ob de bug mouff^ myself^ no how^ so I 
wouldn't take hold ob him wid my finger^ but I 
cotch him wid a piece ob paper dat I found. I rap 30 
him up in de paper and stufE piece ob it in he mouff 
— dat was de way." 



20 THE GOLD BUG 

" And you think^ then, that your master was really 
bitten by the beetle, and that the bite made him 
sick?^^ 

"I don't tink noffin about it — I nose it. What 
5 make him dream bout de goole so much, if taint 
cause he bit by de goole-bug? Ise heerd bout dem 
goole-bugs fore dis.'' 

" But how do you know he dreams about gold? ^' 

'^'^How I know? why, cause he talk about it in he 
10 sleep — dat's how I nose/' 

" Well, Jup, perhaps you are right; but to what 
fortunate circumstance am I to attribute the honor 
of a visit from you to-day? " 

" What de matter, massa? " 
15 " Did you bring any message from Mr. Legrand? '' 

" No, massa, I bring dis here pissel;" and here 
Jupiter handed me a note which ran thus: 

" My Dear , 



" Why have I not seen you for a so long a time ? I 
20 hope you have not been so foolish as to take offense 
at any little Irusquerie of mine; but no, that is im- 
probable. 

'^ Since I saw you I have had great cause for 
anxiety. I have something to tell you, yet scarcely 
15 know how to tell it, or whether I should tell it at all. 
" I have not been quite well for some days past, 
and poor old Jup annoys me, almost beyond endur- 
ance, by his well-meant attentions. Would you be- 
lieve it? — he had prepared a huge stick, the other 
30 day, with which to chastise me for giving him the 

21. Brusquerie. (Fr.) Bluntness, ofE-hand, asaepeech. 



THE GOLD BUG 21 

slip^ and spending the day^ solus, among the hills on 
the mainland. I verily believe that my ill looks 
alone saved me a flogging. 

'' I have made no addition to my cabinet since we 
met. 5 

" If you can^ in any way^ make it convenient^ come 
over with Jupiter. Do come. I wish to see you 
to-nighty upon business of importance. I assure lyou 
that it is of the highest importance. 

'^ Ever yours^ 10 

"William Legrand.^' 

There was something in the tone of this note 
which gave me great uneasiness. Its whole style 
differed materially from that of Legrand. What 
could he be dreaming of? What new crotchet pos- 15 
sessed his excitable brain? What "business of the 
highest importance '^ could he possibly have to trans- 
act? Jupiter^s account of him boded no good. I 
dreaded lest the continued pressure of misfortune 
had^ at lengthy fairly unsettled the reason of my 20 
friend. Without a moment's hesitation^ therefore, I 
prepared to accompany the negro. 

Upon reaching the wharf, I noticed a scythe and 
three spades, all apparently new, lying in the bottom 
of the boat in which we were to embark. 25 

" What is the meaning of all this, Jup ? '^ I in- 
quired. 

" Him syfe, massa, and spade.'' 

" Very true; but what are they doing here? " 

1. Solus. (L.) Alone. 



22 THE GOLD BUG 

^^Him de syfe and de spade what Massa Will sis 
pon my buying for him in de town, and de debbil's 
own lot of money I had to gib for em.'^ 

" But what, in the name of all that is mysterious, 

5 is your ' Massa Will ^ going to do with scythes and 
spades? ^^ 

" Dat's more dan / know, and debbil take me if I 
don^t believe ^tis more dan he know, too. But it's 
all cum ob de bug/' 

10 Finding that no satisfaction was to be obtained of 
Jupiter, whose whole intellect seemed to be absorbed 
by " debug,'' I now stepped into the boat and made 
sail. With a fair and strong breeze we soon ran into 
the little cove to the northward of Port Moultrie, and 

15 a walk of some two miles brought us to the hut. It 
was about three in the afternoon when we arrived. 
Legrand had been awaiting us in eager expectation. 
He grasped my hand with a nervous empressement 
which alarmed me and strengthened the suspicions 

20 already entertained. His countenance was pale even 
to ghastliness, and his deep-set eyes glared with un- 
natural luster. After some inquiries respecting his 
health, I asked him, not knowing what better to say, 
if he had yet obtained the scarabceus from Lieuten- 

25 ant G — — . 

"^ Oh, yes," he replied, coloring violently, ^^ I got it 
from him the next morning. Nothing should tempt 
me to part with that scarabceus. Do you know that 
Jupiter is quite right about it? '^ 

30 ^^In what way?" I asked, with a sad foreboding 
at heart. 

" In supposing it to be a bug of real goW^ He 



THE GOLD BUG 23 

said this with an air of profound seriousness^ and I 
felt inexpressibly shocked. 

" This bug is to make my fortune/^ he continued^ 
with a triumphant smile^ " to reinstate me in my 
family possessions. Is it any wonder^ then^ that I 5 
prize it? Since Fortune has thought fit to bestow it 
upon me^ I have only to use it properly and I shall 
arrive at the gold of which it is the index. Jupiter^ 
bring me that scarabceus ! '^ 

"What! de bug^ massa? I^d rudder not go ferlO 
trubble dat bug — you mus git him for your own self .^^ 

Hereupon Legrand arose^, with a grave and stately 
air^ and brought me the beetle from a glass case in 
which it was inclosed. It was a beautiful scarabceus^ 
and, at that time, unknown to naturalists — of course 15 
a great prize in a scientific point of view. There 
were two round, black spots near one extremity of the 
back, and a long one near the other. The scales were 
exceedingly hard and glossy, with all the appearance 
of burnished gold. The weight of the insect was 20 
very remarkable, and, taking all things into con- 
sideration, I could hardly blame Jupiter for his 
opinion respecting it; but what to make of Legrand^s 
concordance with that opinion, I could not, for the 
life of me, tell. 25 

" I sent for you,^^ said he, in a grandiloquent tone, 
when I had completed my examination of the beetle, 
" I sent for you, that I might have your counsel and 
assistance in furthering the views of Fate and of the 
bug '' 30 

" My dear Legrand,^^ I cried, interrupting him, 

S6. Grandiloquent. (L. grandis, grand + loquo7\ speak.) Pompous. 



24 THE GOLD BUG 

^^you are certainly unwell, and had better use some 
little precautions. You shall go to bed, and I will 
remain with you a few days, until you get over this. 

You are feverish and ^^ 

5 '' Feel my pulse/^ said he. 

I felt it, and, to say the truth, found not the slight- 
est indication of fever. 

" But you may be ill and yet have no fever. Allow 
me this once to prescribe for you. In the first place, 
10 go to bed. In the next ^^ 

" You are mistaken,^^ he interposed. " I am as well 
as I can expect to be under the excitement which I 
suffer. If you really wish me well, you will relieve 
this excitement.^^ 
15 " And how is this to be done? ^^ 

'' Very easily. Jupiter and myself are going upon 
an expedition into the hills, upon the mainland, and 
in this expedition we shall need the aid of some per- 
son in whom we can confide. You are the only one 
20 we can trust. Whether we succeed or fail, the excite- 
ment which you now perceive in me will be equally 
allayed.^^ 

'' I am anxious to oblige you in any way,^^ I replied, 

'' but do you mean to say that this infernal beetle has 

25 any connection with your expedition into the hills? ^^ 

" It has.^^ 

'' Then, Legrand, I can become a party to no such 
absurd proceeding.^^ 

" I am sorry — very sorry — for we shall have to try 
30 it by ourselves.'^ 

" Try it by yourselves! The man is surely mad! — 
but stay — how long do you propose to be absent? ^' 



' THE GOLD BtTG 25 

^^ Probably all night. We shall start immediately, 
and be back, at all events, by sunrise/^ 

" And will you promise me, upon your honor, that 
when this freak of yours is over, and the bug business 
(good God!) settled to your satisfaction, you will then 5 
return home and follow my advice implicitly, as that 
of your physician? ^^ 

'' Yes, I promise; and now let us be off, for we have 
no time to lose/^ 

With a heavy heart I accompanied my friend. We 10 
started about four o^clock— Legrand, Jupiter, the 
dog, and myself. Jupiter had with him the scythe 
and spadesi — the whole of which he insisted upon 
carrying, more through fear, it seemed to me, of 
trusting either of the implements within reach of his 15 
master, that from any excess of industry or complai- 
sance. His demeanor was dogged in the extreme, 
and '' dat deuced bug ^^ were the sole words which 
escaped his lips during the journey. For my own 
part, I had charge of a couple of dark lanterns, while 20 
Legrand contented himself with the scarabceus, which 
he carried attached to the end of a bit of whip-cord; 
twirling it to and fro, with the air of a conjuror, as he 
went. When I observed this last, plain evidence of 
my friend's aberration of mind, I could scarcely re- 25 
frain from tears. I thought it best, however, to 
humor his fancy, at least for the present, or until I 
could adopt some more energetic measures with a 
chance of success. In the meantime I endeavored, 
but all in vain, to sound him in regard to the object 30 
of the expedition. Having succeeded in inducing 
me to accompany him, he seemed unwilling to hold 



26 THE GOLD BUG 

conversation upon any topic of minor importance, 
and to all my questions youchsafed no other reply 
than " we shall see! '^ 

We crossed the creek at the head of the island by 

5 means of a skiff, and, ascending the high grounds on 
the shore of the mainland, proceeded in a north- 
westerly direction, through a tract of country excess- 
ively wild and desolate, where no trace of a human 
footstep was to be seen. Legrand led the way with 

10 decision; pausing only for an instant, here and there, 
to consult what appeared to be certain landmarks of 
his own contrivance upon a former occasion. 

In this manner we journeyed for about two hours, 
and the sun was just setting when we entered a region 

15 infinitely more dreary than any yet seen. It was a 
species of tableland, near the summit of an almost 
inaccessible hill, densely wooded from base to pin- 
nacle, and interspersed with huge crags that appeared 
to lie loosely upon the soil, and in many cases were 

20 prevented from precipitating themselves into the 

valleys below merely by the support of the trees 

against which they reclined. Deep ravines, in vari- 

' ous directions, gave an air of still sterner solemnity 

to the scene. 

25 The natural platform to which we had clambered 
was thickly overgrown with brambles, through which 
we soon discovered that it would have been impos- 
sible to force our way but for the scythe; -and Jupiter, 
by direction of his master, proceeded to clear for us 

30 a path to the foot of an enormously tall tulip-tree, 
which stood, with some eight or ten oaks, upon the 

30. Tulip-tree. Known also as poplar or whitewood. 



THE GOLD BUG 27 

lovely and far surpassed them all^ and all other trees 
which I had then ever seen^, in the beauty of its 
foliage and form^ in the wide spread of its branches^ 
and in the general majesty of its appearance. When 
we reached this tree, Legrand turned to Jupiter, and 5 
asked him if he thought he could climb it. The old 
man seemed a little staggered by the question, and 
for some moments made no reply. At length he ap- 
proached the huge trunk, walked slowly around it, 
and examined it with minute attention. When he 10 
had completed his scrutiny, he merely said: 

^^ Yes, massa, Jup climb any tree he ebber see in he 
life.^^ 

" Then up with you as soon as possible, for it will 
soon be too dark to see what we are about.'^ 15 . 

'' How far mus go up, massa? ^' inquired Jupiter. 

" Get up the main trunk JBrst, and then I will tell 
you which way to go — and here — stop! take this 
beetle with you.^^ 

'^De bug, Massa Will! — de goole-bug! ^^ cried the 20 
negro, drawing back in dismay — ^^ what for mus tote 
de bug way up de tree? — d n if I do! '^ 

" If you are afraid, Jup, a great big negro like you, 
to take hold of a harmless little dead beetle, why you v 
can carry it up by this string — but, if you do not take 25 
it up with you in some way, I shall be under the 
necessity of breaking your head with this shovel.^' 

^^What de matter now, massa? ^^ said Jup, evi- 
dently shamed into compliance; " always want for to 
raise fuss wid old nigger. Was only f unnin anyhow. 30 
Me feered de bug! what I keer for de bug? ^^ Here 
he took cautiously hold of the extreme end of the 



28 THE GOLD BUG 

string, and, maintaining the insect as far from his 
person as circumstances would permit, prepared to 
ascend the tree. 

In youth, the tulip-tree, or Liriodendron Tulipifera, 

5 the most magnificent of American foresters, has a 
trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a great 
height without lateral branches; but, in its riper age, 
the bark becomes gnarled and uneven, while many 
short limbs make their appearance on the stem. 

10 Thus the difficulty of ascension, in the present case, 
lay more in semblance than in reality. Embracing 
the huge cylinder, as closely as possible, with his 
arms and knees, seizing with his hands some projec- 
tions, and resting his naked toes upon others, Jupiter, 

15 after one or two narrow escapes from falling, at 
length wriggled himself into the first great fork, and 
seemed to consider the whole business as virtually ac- 
complished. The risk of the achievement was, in 
fact, now over, although the climber was some sixty 

20 or seventy feet from the ground. 

^^ Which way mus go now, Massa Will? '^ he asked. 

^^ Keep up the largest branch — the one on this 

side,^^ said Legrand. The negro obeyed him promptly, 

and apparently with but little trouble; ascending 

25 higher and higher, until no glimpse of his squat 
figure could be obtained through the dense foliage 
which enveloped it. Presently his voice was heard 
in a sort of halloo. 

^^ How much f udder is got for go? '^ 

30 " How high up are you? '' asked Legrand. 

" Ebber so fur,^^ replied the negro; " can see de 
sky fru de top ob de tree/^ 



THE GOLD Blia 29 

'^ N'ever mind the sky^ but attend to what I 
say. Look down the trunk and count the limbs 
below you on this side. How many limbs have 
you passed? ^^ 

" One^ two^ tree^ f our^ fibe — I done pass fibe big 5 
limb> massa^ pon dis side.^^ 

" Then go one limb higher.^^ 

In a few minutes the voice was heard again an- 
nouncing that the seventh limb was attained. 

" Now^ Jup/^ cried Legrand^, evidently much ex- 10 
cited^ " I want you to work your way out upon that 
limb as far as you can. If you see anything strange, 
let me know.'^ 

By this time what little doubt I might have enter- 
tained of my poor friend^s insanity, was put finally at 15 
rest. I had no alternative but to conclude him 
stricken with lunacy, and I became seriously anxious 
about getting him home. While I was pondering 
upon what was best to be done, Jupiter's voice was 
heard. 20 

" Mos feerd for to ventur pon dis limb berry far — 
'tis dead limb putty much all de way.'' 

" Did you say it was a dead limb, Jupiter? " cried 
Legrand, in a quivering voice. 

'^ Yes, massa, him dead as de doornail — done up 25 
for sartain — done departed dis here life." 

" What in the name of Heaven shall I do ? " asked 
Legrand, seemingly in the greatest distress. 

" Do! " said I, glad of an opportunity to interpose 
a word, " why, come home and go to bed. Come 30 
now! — that's a fine fellow. It's getting late, and, 
besides, you remember your promise." 



30 THE GOLD BUG 

"Jupiter/^ cried he^ without heeding me in the 
leasts " do you hear me? '^ 

" Yes^ Massa Will^ hear you ebber so plain.'^ 

^' Try the wood well^ then^ with your knife'^ and see 
5 if you think it very rotten/^ 

" Him rotten^ massa,' sure nuff/^ replied the negro^ 
in a few moments, " but not so berry rotten as 
mought be. Mought ventur out leetle way pon de 
limb by myself, dat^s true/^ 
10 " By yourself? — what do you mean? ^^ 

" Why, I mean de bug. ^Tis lerry hebby bug. 
Spose I drop him down fuss, and den de limb won^t 
break wid just de weight ob one nigger.^^ 

^^You infernal scoundrel! ^^ cried Legrand, appar- 

15 ently much relieved, " what do you mean by telling 

me such nonsense as that? As sure as you let that 

beetle fall, 1^11 break your neck. Look here, Jupiter, 

do you hear me? ^^ 

"Yes, massa, needn^t hollo at poor nigger dat 
20 style.'' 

" Well! now listen! — if you will venture out on the 
limb as far as you think safe, and not let go the 
beetle, I'll make you a present of a silver dollar as 
soon as you get down." 
35 " I'm gwine, Massa Will — deed I is," replied the 
negro, very promptly — " mos out to the eend now." 

"^^ Out to the end!^^ here fairly screamed Legrand, 
" do you say you are out to the end of that limb? " 

" Soon be to de eend, massa, — o-o-o-o-oh! Lor- 
30 gol-a-marcy! what is dis here pon de tree? " 

"Well!" cried Legrand, highly delighted, "what 
is it?" 



THE GOLD BUG 31 

'' Why^ taint noffin but a skull — somebody bin lef 
him head up de tree^ and de crows done gobble ebery 
bit ob de meat off/^ 

" A skull, you say! — very well! — how is it fastened 
to the limb? — what holds it on? ^^ > 5 

" Sure nuflf, massa; mus look. Why, dis berry 
eurous sarcumstance, pon my word — dare^s a great 
big nail in de skull what fastens ob it on to de tree/^ 

" Well now, Jupiter, do exactly as I tell you — do 
you hear? '^ 10 

" Yes, massa/^ 

^^Pay attention, then! — find the left eye of the 
skull/' 

" Hum! hoo! dat's good! why, dare aint no eye lef 
at all/' 15 

^^ Curse your stupidity! do you know your right 
hand from your left? " 

" Yes, I nose dat — nose all bouf dat — 'tis my lef 
hand what I chops de wood wid/' 

^^ To be sure! you are left-handed; and your left 20 
eye is on the same side as your left hand/ Now, I 
suppose, you can find the left eye of the skull, or the 
place where the left eye has been. Have you found 
it?" 

Here was a long pause: At length the negro asked: 25 

'^ Is de lef eye ob de skull pon de same side as de 
lef hand ob de skull, too? — cause de skull aint got 
not a bit ob a hand at all — nebber mind! I got de 
lef eye, now — here de lef eye! what mus do with it? " 

" Let the beetle drop through it, as far the string 30 
will reach — but be careful and not let go your hold 
of the string." 



32 THE GOLD BUG 

" All dat done, Massa Will; mighty easy ting for 
to put de bug fru de hole — look out for him dare 
below! '' 

During this colloquy no portion of Jupiter's per- 

5 son could be seen; but the beetle, which he had suf- 
fered to descend, was now visible at the end of the 
string, and glistened, like a globe of burnished gold, 
in the last rays of the setting sun, some of which still 
faintly illumined the eminence upon which we stood. 

10 The scarabceus hung quite clear of any branches, and, 
if allowed to fall, would have fallen at our feet. Le- 
grand immediately took the scythe, and cleared with 
it a circular space, three or four yards in diameter, 
just beneath the insect, and, having accomplished 

15 this, ordered Jupiter to let go the string and come 
down from the tree. 

Driving a peg, with great nicety, into the ground, 
at the precise spot where the beetle fell, my friend 
now produced from his pocket a tape-measure. Fast- 

20 ening one end of this at that point of the trunk of 
the tree which was nearest the peg, he unrolled it till 
it reached the peg, and thence farther unrolled it, in 
the direction already established by the two points of 
the tree and the peg, for the distance of fifty feet — 

25 Jupiter clearing away the brambles with the scythe. 
At the spot thus attained a second peg was driven, 
and about this, as a center, a rude circle, about four 
feet in diameter, described. Taking now a spade 
himself, and giving one to Jupiter and one to me, 

30 Legrand begged us to set about digging as quickly 
as possible. 

To speak the truth, I had no especial relish for 



THE GOLD BUG 33 

such amusement at any time^ and^ at that particular 
moment, would most willingly have declined it; for 
the night was coming on, and I felt much fatigued 
with the exercise already taken; but I saw no mode 
of escape, and was fearful of disturbing my poor 5 
friend^s equanimity by a refusal. Could I have de- 
pended, indeed, upon Jupiter's aid, I would have had 
no hesitation in attempting to get the lunatic home 
by force; but I was too well assured of the old negro's 
disposition, to hope that he would assist me, under 10 
any circumstances, in a personal contest with his 
master. I made no doubt that the latter had been 
infected with some of the innumerable Southern 
superstitions about money buried, and that his fan- 
tasy had received confirmation by the finding of the 15 
scardbceuSy or, perhaps, by Jupiter^s obstinacy in 
maintaining it to be '^ a bug of real gold.'' A mind 
disposed to lunacy would readily be led away by such 
suggestions; especially if chiming in with favorite 
preconceived ideas; and then I called to mind the 20 
poor fellow's speech about the beetle's being ^^the 
index of his fortune." Upon the whole, I was" sadly 
vexed and puzzled, but at length I concluded to 
make a virtue of necessity — to dig with a good will, 
"and thus the sooner to convince the visionary, by 25 
ocular demonstration, of the fallacy of the opinions 
he entertained. 

The lanterns having been lit, we all fell to work 
with a zeal worthy a more rational cause; and, as the 
glare fell upon our persons and implements, I could 30 
not help thinking how picturesque a group we com- 
posed, and how strange and suspicious our labors 



34 THE GOLD BUG 

must have appeared to any interloper who^ by chance^ 
might have stumbled upon our whereabouts. 

We dug very steadily for two hours. Little was 
said; and our chief embarrassment lay in the yelp- 
5 ings of the dog^ who took exceeding interest in our 
proceedings. He^ at length, became so obstreperous 
that we grew fearful of his giving the alarm to some 
stragglers in the vicinity; or, rather, this was the 
apprehension of Legrand; for myself, I should have 

10 rejoiced at any interruption which might have 
enabled me to get the wanderer home. The noise 
was, at length, very effectually silenced by Jupiter, 
who, getting out of the hole with a dogged air of 
deliberation, tied the brute^s mouth up with one of 

15 his suspenders, and then returned, with a grave 
chuckle, to his task. 

When the time mentioned had expired, we had 
reached a depth of five feet, and yet no signs of any 
treasure became manifest. A general pause ensued, 

20 and I began to hope that the farce was at an end. 
Legrand, however, although evidently much discon- 
certed, wiped his brow thoughtfully and rejgom- 
menced. We had excavated the entire circle of four 
feet diameter, and now we slightly enlarged the limit, 

25 and went to the further depth of two feet. Still 
nothing appeared. The gold-seeker, whom I sin- 
cerely pitied, at length clambered from the pit, with 
the bitterest disappointment imprinted upon every 
feature, and proceeded, slowly and reluctantly, to put 

30 on his coat, which he had throwm off at the begin- 
ning of his labor. In the meantime I made no re- 

6. Obstreperous. (L. oh, before + strepo, roar.) Noisy ; clamorous. 



THE GOLD BUG 35 

mark. Jupiter^ at a signal from his master^, began to 
gather up his tools. This done^ and the dog having 
been unmuzzled^ we turned in profound silence to- 
ward home. 

We had taken^ perhaps^ a dozen steps in this direc- 5 
tion^ when with a loud oath^ Legrand strode up to 
Jupiter^ and seized him by the collar. The aston- 
ished negro opened his eyes and mouth to the fullest 
extent^ let fall the spades, and fell u.pon his knees. 

'^ You scoundrel/^ said Legrand, hissing out the 10 
syllables from between his clenched teeth — " you in- 
fernal black villain! — ^^speak, I tell you! — answer me 
this instant, without prevarication! — which — which 
is your left eye ? ^^ 

" Oh, my golly, Massa Will! aint dis here my lef 15 
eye for sartain?^^ roared the terrified Jupiter, plac- 
ing his hand upon his riglii organ of vision, and hold- 
ing it there with a desperate pertinacity, as if in 
immediate dread of his master^s attempt at a gouge. 

"I thought so! — I knew it! hurrah! ^^ vociferated 20 
Legrand, letting the negro go and executing a series 
of curvets and caracols, much to the astonishment of 
his valet, who, arising from his knees, looked mutely 
from his master to myself, and then from myself to 
his master. 25 

" Come! we must go back,^^ said the latter, " the 
gamers not up yet;^^ and he again led the way to the 
tulip tree. 

" Jupiter,^^ said he, when we reached its foot, 
" come here; was the skull nailed to the limb with 30 
the face outward, or with the face to the limb? ^^ 

18. Pertinacity. (L. j!?€r, through + ife/?^o, hold). Dogged perseverance. 



36 THE GOLD BUG 

" De face was out^ massa^ so dat de crows could 
get at de eyes good, widout any trouble/^ 

" Well, then, was it this eye or that through which 
you dropped the beetle? ^^ — here Legrand touched 
5 each of Jupiter's eyes. 

" 'Twas dis eye, massa — de lef eye — jis as you tell 
me,'^ and here it was his right eye that the negro 
indicated. 

" That will do — we must try it again.'^ 

10 Here my friend, about whose madness I now saw 
or fancied that I saw, certain indications of method, 
removed the peg which marked the spot where the 
beetle fell, to a spot about three inches to the west- 
ward of its former position. Taking, now, the tape 

15 measure from the nearest point of the trunk to the 
peg, as before, and continuing the extension in a 
straight line to the distance of fifty feet, a spot was 
indicated, removed, by several yards, from the point 
at which we had been digging. 

20 Around the new position a circle, somewhat larger 
than in the former instance, was now described, and 
we again set to work with the spades. I was dread- 
fully weary, but, scarcely understanding what had 
occasioned the change in my thoughts, I felt no 

25 longer any great aversion from the labor imposed. I 
had become most unaccountably interested — nay, 
even excited. Perhaps there was something, amid 
all the extravagant demeanor of Legrand — some air 
of forethought, or of deliberation — which impressed 

30 me. I dug eagerly, and now and then caught myself 

10. About whose madness. Cf. " Though this be madness, yet there is 
method in' V— Hamlet II. 1. 



THE GOLD BUG 37 

actually looking, with something that very much re- 
sembled expectation, for the fancied treasure, the 
vision of which had demented my unfortunate com- 
panion. At a period when such vagaries of thought 
most fully possessed me, and when we had been at 5 
work perhaps an hour and a half, we were again 
interrupted by the violent bowlings of the dog. His 
uneasiness, in the first instance, had been, evidently, 
but the result of playfulness or caprice, but he now 
assumed a bitter and serious tone. Upon Jupiter's 10 
again attempting to muzzle him, he made furious re- 
sistance, and leaping into the hole, tore up the mold 
frantically with his claws. In a few seconds he had 
uncovered a mass of human bones, forming two com- 
plete skeletons, intermingled with several buttons of 15 
metal, and what appeared to be the dust of decayed 
woolen. One or two strokes of a spade upturned the 
blade of a large Spanish knife, and, as we dug fur- 
ther, three or four loose pieces of gold and silver coin 
came to light. 20 

At sight of these the joy of Jupiter could scarcely 
be restrained, but the countenance of his master wore 
an air of extreme disappointment. He urged us, 
however, to continue our exertions, and the words 
were hardly uttered when I stumbled and fell for- 25 
ward, having caught the toe of my boot in a large 
ring of iron that lay half buried in the loose earth. 

We now worked in earnest, and never did I pass 

3. Demented. (L. de, from -|- ^ens, mind.) Deprived of reason ; 
insane. 

9. Caprice. (L. capr a, goat. ^ " A ' caprice ' then is a movement of the 
mind as unaccountable and as little to be calculated on beforehand as the 
springs and bounds of a goat." — Trench. 



38 THE GOLD BUG 

ten minutes of more intense excitement. During 
this interval we had fairly unearthed an oblong chest 
of wood, which, from its perfect preservation and 
wonderful hardness, had plainly been subjected to 
5 some mineralizing process — perhaps that of the bi- 
chloride of mercury. This box was three feet and a 
half long, three feet broad, and two and a half feet 
deep. It was firmly secured by bands of wrought 
iron, riveted, and forming a kind of open trelliswork 

10 over the whole. On each side of the chest, near the 
top, were three rings of iron — six in all — by means of 
which a firm hold could be obtained by six persons. 
Our utmost united endeavors served only to disturb 
the coffer very slightly in its bed. We at once saw 

15 the impossibility of removing so great a weight. 
Luckily, the sole fastenings of the lid consisted of 
two sliding bolts. These we drew back — trembling 
and panting with anxiety. In an instant, a treasure 
of incalculable value lay gleaming before us. As the 

20 rays of the lanterns fell within the pit, there flashed 
upw^ards from a confused heap of gold and of jewels 
a glow and a glare that absolutely dazzled our eyes. 

I shall not pretend to describe the feelings with 
which I gazed. Amazement was, of course,, pre- 

25 dominant. Legrand appeared exhausted with excite- 
ment, and spoke very few words. Jupiter's counte- 
nance wore, for some minutes, as deadly a pallor as it 
is possible, in the nature of things, for any negro's 
visage to assume. He seemed stupefied — thunder- 

30 stricken. Presently he fell upon his knees in the pit, 
and, burying his naked arms up to the elbows in 
gold, let them there remain, as if enjoying the 



THE GOLD BUG 39 

luxury of a bath. At lengthy with a deep sigh^ he 
exclaimed^ as if in a soliloquy: 

'' And dis all cum ob de goole-bug! de putty goole- 
bug! de poor little goole-bug^ what I boosed in dat 
sabage kind ob style! Aint you ashamed ob yourself^ 5 
nigger? — answer me dat! ^^ 

It became necessary, at last, that I should arouse 
both master and valet to the expediency of remov- 
ing the treasure. It was growing late, and it be- 
hooved us to make exertion, that we might get every- 10 
thing housed before daylight. It was difficult to say 
what should be done, and much time was spent in 
deliberation — so confused w^ere the ideas of all. We, 
finally, lightened the box by removing two-thirds of 
its contents, when we were enabled, with some 15 
trouble, to raise it from the hole. The articles taken 
out were deposited among the brambles, and the dog 
left to guard them, with strict orders from Jupiter 
neither, upon any pretense, to stir from the spot, nor 
to open his mouth until our return. We then hur- 20 
riedly made for home with the chest, reaching the 
hut in safety, but after excessive toil, at one o'clock 
in the morning. Worn out as we were, it was not in 
human nature to do more immediately. We rested 
until two, and had supper; starting for the hills 25 
immediately afterward, armed with three stout sacks, 
which, by good luck, were upon the premises. A 
little before four we arrived at the pit, divided the 
remainder of the booty, as equally as might be, 
among us, and leaving the holes unfilled, again set 30 
out for the hut, at which for the second time, we 

9. Behooved. (A. S. behofian.) Was proper or necessary. 



40 THE GOLD BtJG 

deposited our golden burdens^, just as the first faint 
streaks of the dawn gleamed from over the tree-tops 
in the east. 

We were now thoroughly broken down; but the 

5 intense excitement of the time denied us repose. 

After an unquiet slumber of some three or four 

hours' duration^ we arose, as if by preconcert, to make 

examination of our treasure. 

The chest had been full to the brim, and we spent 

10 the whole day, and the greater part of the next night, 
in a scrutiny of its contents. There had been noth- 
ing like order or arrangement. Everything had been 
heaped in promiscuously. Having assorted all with 
care, we found ourselves possessed of even vaster 

15 wealth than we had at first supposed. In coin there 
was rather more than four hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars — estimating the value of the pieces, as 
accurately as we could, by the tables of the period. 
There was not a particle of silver. All was gold of 

20 antique date and of great variety — French, Spanish, 
and German money, with a few English guineas, and 
some counters, of which we had never seen specimens 
before. There were several very large and heavy 
coins, so worn that we could make nothing of their 

25 inscriptions. There was no American money. The 
value of the jewels we found more difiiculty in esti- 
mating. There were diamonds — some of them ex- 
ceedingly large and fine — a hundred and ten in all, 
and not one of them small; eighteen rubies of re- 

80 markable brilliancy; three hundred and ten emeralds, 

21. Guineas. English gold pieces first coined from Guinea gold (1663). 

22. Counters. Coins, 



THE GOLD BUG 41 

all very beautiful^ and twenty-one sapphires^ with an 
opal. These stones had all been broken from their 
settings and thrown loose in the chest. The settings 
themselves, which we picked out from among the 
other gold, appeared to have been beaten up with 5 
hammers, as if to prevent identification. Besides all 
this, there was a vast quantity of solid gold orna- 
ments: nearly two hundred massive finger and ear- 
rings; rich chains — thirty of these, if I remember; 
eighty-three very large and heavy crucifixes; five 10 
gold censers of great value; a prodigious golden 
punch-bowl, ornamented with richly chased vine* 
leaves and bacchanalian figures; with two sword- 
handles exquisitely embossed, and many other 
smaller articles which I cannot recollect. The 15 
weight of these valuables exceeded three hundred 
and fifty pounds avoirdupois; and in this estimate I 
have not^ included one hundred and ninety-seven 
superb gold watches; three of the number being 
worth each five hundred dollars, if one. Many of 20 
them were very old, and as timekeepers valueless; the 
works having suffered more or less from corrosion; 
but all were richly jeweled and in cases of great 
worth. We estimated the entire contents of the 
chest, that night, at a million and a half of dollars; 25 
-land upon the subsequent disposal of the trinkets and 
jewels (a few being retained for our own use), it was 
found that we had greatly undervalued the treasure. 

13. Bacchanalian figures. (L. Bacchus, god of wine). Figures of riotous 
revelers. 

17. Avoirdupois. Valuables are usually reckoned by Troy weight, but 
the vast amount of this treasure led its finders to estimate the gross 
weight avoirdupois. 



42 THE GOLD BUG 

When, at length, we had concluded our examina- 
tion and the intense excitement of the time had, in 
some measure, subsided, Legrand, who saw that I was 
dying with impatience for a solution of this most ex- 
5 traordinary riddle, entered into a full detail of all 
the circumstances connected with it. 

" You remember,^^ said he, " the night when I 
handed you the rough sketch I had made of the 
scarabceus. You recollect also, that I became quite 

10 vexed at you for insisting that my drawing resembled 
a death^s-head. When you first made this assertion 
I thought you were jesting; but afterward I called to 
mind the peculiar spots on the back of the insect, and 
admitted to myself that your remark had some little 

15 foundation in fact. Still the sneer at my graphic 
powers irritated me — ^for I am considered a good 
artist — and therefore, when you handed me the scrap 
of parchment, I was about to crumple it up and throw 
it angrily into the fire.^^ 

20 '^ The scrap of paper, you mean,'^ said I. 

" No; it had much of the appearance of paper, 
and at first I supposed it to be such, but when I came 
to draw upon it, I discovered it, at once, to be a piece 
of very thin parchment. It was quite dirty, you re- 

25 member. Well, as I was in the very act of crumpling 
it up, my glance fell upon the sketch at which you 
had bv.en looking, and you may imagine my astonish- 
ment, when I perceived, in fact, the figure of a 
death^s-head just where, it seemed to me, I had made 

30 the drawing of the beetle. For a moment I was too 
much amazed to think with accuracy. I knew that 
my design was very different in detail from this — 



THE GOLD BUG 43 

although there wa& a certain similarity in general 
outline. Presently I took a candle^ and seating 
myself at the other end of the room^ proceeded to 
scrutinize the parchment more closely. Upon turn- 
ing it over^ I saw my own sketch upon the reverse^ 5 
just as I had made it. My first idea, now, was mere 
surprise at the really remarkable similarity of out- 
line — at the singular coincidence involved in the fact, 
that unknown to me, there should have been a skull 
upon the other side of the parchment, immediately 10 
beneath my figure of the scarabceus, and that this 
skull, not only in outline, but in size, should so 
closely resemble my drawing. I say the singularity 
of this coincidence absolutely stupefied me for a time. 
This is the usual effect of such coincidences. The 15 
mind struggles to establish a connection — a sequence 
of cause and effect^ — and, being unable to do so, suf- 
fers a species of tentporary paralysis. But, when I 
recovered from this stupor, there dawned upon me 
gradually a conviction which startled me even far 20 
more than the coincidence. I began distinctly, 
positively, to remember that there had been no draw- 
ing upon the parchment when I made my sketch of 
the scaradceus. I became perfectly certain of this; 
for I recollected turning up first one side and then 25 
the other, in search of the cleanest spot. Had the 
skull been then there, of course I could not have 
failed to notice it. Here was indeed a mystery which 
I felt it impossible to explain; but, even at that early 
moment, there seemed to glimmer, faintly, within the 30 
most remote and secret chambers of my intellect, a 
glow-worm-like conception of that truth which la'st 



44 THE GOLD BUG 

nighf s adventure brought to so magnificent a demon- 
stration. I arose at once, and putting the parchment 
securely away, dismissed all further reflection until 
I should be alone. 

5 " When you had gone, and when Jupiter was fast 
asleep, I betook myself to a more methodical investi- 
gation of the affair. In the first place I considered 
tl^e manner in which the parchment had come into 
my possession. The spot where we discovered the 

10 scarabceus was on the coast of the mainland, about a 
mile eastward of the island, and but a short distance 
above high-water mark. Upon my taking hold of it, 
it gave me a sharp bite, which caused me to let it 
drop. Jupiter, with his accustomed caution, before 

15 seizing the insect, which had flown toward him, 
looked about him for a leaf, or something of that 
nature, by which to take hold of it. It was at this 
moment that his eyes, and mine also, fell upon the 
scrap of parchment, which I then supposed to be 

20 paper. It was lying half-buried in the sand, a cor- 
ner sticking up. Near the spot where we found it, 
I observed the remnants of the hull of what appeared 
to have been a ship^s long boat. The wreck seemed 
to have been there for a very great while; for the 

25 resemblance to boat timbers could scarcely be traced. 
" Well, Jupiter picked up the parchment, wrapped 
the beetle in it, and gave it to me. Soon afterward 
we turned to go home, and on the way met Lieuten- 
ant G . I showed him the insect, and he begged 

30 me to let him take it to the fort. On my consenting, 
he thrust it forthwith into his waistcoat pocket, with- 
out the parchment in which it had been wrapped, 



THE GOLD BUG 45 

and which I had continued to hold in my hand dur- 
ing his inspection. Perhaps he dreaded my chang- 
ing my mind^ and thought it best to make sure of the 
prize at once — you know how enthusiastic he is on 
all subjects connected with Natural History. At the 5 
same time^, without being conscious of it^ I must have 
deposited the parchment in my own pocket. 

" You remember that when I went to the table, 
for the purpose of making a sketch of the beetle, I 
found no paper where it was usually kept. I looked 10 
in the drawer, and found none there. I searched my 
pockets, hoping to find an old letter and then my 
hand fell upon the parchment. I thus detail the pre- 
cise mode in which it came into my possession; for 
the circumstances impressed me with peculiar force. 15 

" No doubt you will think me fanciful — but I had 
already established a kind of connection. I had put 
together two links of a great chain. There was a 
boat lying upon a seacoast, and not far from the boat 
was a parchment — not a paper — with a skull depicted 20 
on it. You will, of course, ask ^ where is the connec- 
tion? ^ I reply that the skull or death^s-head, is the 
well known emblem of the pirate. The flag of the 
death^s-head is hoisted in all engagements. 

" I have said that the scrap was parchment, and 25 
not paper. Parchment is durable — almost imperish- 
able. Matters of little moment are rarely consigned 
to parchment; since for the mere ordinary purposes 
of drawing or writing it is not nearly so well adapted 
as paper. This reflection suggested some meaning — 30 
some relevancy — in the death^s-head. I did not fail 
to observe, also, the form of the parchment. Al- 



46 THE GOLD BUG 

though one of its corners had been, by some accident, 
destroyed, it could be seen that the original form was 
oblong. It was just such a slip, indeed, as might 
have been chosen for a memorandum — for a record 

5 of something to be long remembered and carefully 
preserved/^ 

" But,^^ I interposed, '^ you say that the skull was 
not upon the parchment when you made the drawing 
of the beetle. How then do you trace any connec- 

10 tion between the boat and the skull — since this latter, 

according to your own admission, must have been 

designed (God only knows how or by whom) at some 

period subsequent to your sketching the scardbceus ? '^ 

" Ah, hereupon turns the whole mystery; although 

15 the secret, at this point, I had comparatively little 
difRculty in solving. My steps were sure, and could 
afford but a single result. I reasoned, for example, 
thus: When I drew the scarahceus, there was no 
skull apparent upon the parchment. When I had 

20 completed the drawing I gave it to you, and observed 
you narrowly until you returned it. You, therefore 
did not design the skull, and no one else was present 
to do it. Then it was not done by human agency. 
And nevertheless it was done. 

25 ^^ At this stage of my reflections I endeavored to 
remember, and did remember, with entire distinct- 
ness, every incident which occurred about the period 
in question. The weather was chilly (0 rare and 
happy accident!), and a fire was blazing on the 

30 hearth. I was heated with exercise and sat near the 
table. You, however, had drawn a chair close to the 
chimney. Just as I placed the parchment in your 



THE GOLD BUG 47 

hand^ and you were in the act of inspecting it^ Wolf^ 
the Newfoundland^ entered^ ^nd leaped upon your 
shoulders. With your left hand you caressed him 
and kept him. ofE^ while your rights holding the 
parchment^ was permitted to .fall listlessly between 5 
your knees^ and in close proximity to the fire. At 
one moment I thought the blaze had caught it^ and 
was about to caution you^ but^ before I could speak^ 
you had withdrawn it^ and were engaged in its exami- 
nation. When I considered all these particulars^ 1 10 
doubted not for a moment that Jieat had been the 
agent in bringing to lights upon the parchment^ the 
skull which I saw designed upon it. You are well 
aware that chemical preparations exists and have 
existed time out of mind^ by means of which it is 15 
possible to write upon either paper or vellum^ so that 
the characters shall become visible only when sub- 
jected to the action of fire, Zaffre^ digested in aqua 
regia, and diluted with four times its weight of water^ 
is sometimes employed; a green tint results. The 20 
regulus of cobalt^ dissolved in spirit of niter^ gives a 
red. These colors disappear at longer or shorter 
intervals after the material written upon cools^ but 
again become apparent upon the re-application of 
heat. 25 

^^ I now scrutinized the death^s-head with care. 
Its outer edges — the edges of the drawing nearest the 
edge of the vellum — were far more distinct than the 
others. It was clear that the action of the caloric 
had been imperfect or unequal. I immediately 30 
kindled a fire^ and subjected every portion of the 

16. Vellum (L. vitulus, calf). Fine parchment made from calves' skin. 



48 THE GOLD BUG 

parchment to a glowing heat. At first;, the only 
effect was strengthening of the faint lines in the 
skull; but^ on persevering in the experiment^ there 
became visible^ at the corner of the slip^ diagonally 

5 opposite to the spot in which the death^s-head was 
delineated^ the figure of what I at first supposed to 
be a goat. A closer scrutiny, however, satisfied me 
that it was intended for a kid.^^ 

" Ha! ha! ^^ said I, " to be sure I have no right to 

10 laugh at you — a million and a half of money is too 
serious a matter for mirth^^ — but you are not about to 
establish a third link in your chain — you will not 
find any especial connection between your pirates and 
a goat; pirates, you know, have nothing to do with 

15 goats; they appertain to the farming interest.^^ 

'^ But I have just said that the figure was not that 
of a goat.^^ 

'^ Well, a kid then — pretty much the same thing.^^ 
" Pretty much, but not altogether,^^ said Legrand. 

20 " You may have heard of one Captain Kidd. I at 
once looked upon the figure of the animal as a kind 
of punning or hieroglyphical signature. I say signa- 
ture; because its position upon the vellum suggested 
this idea. The death^s-head at the corner diagonally 

25 opposite, had, in the same manner, the air of a stamp, 
or seal. But I was sorely put out by the absence of 
all else — of the body to my imagined instrument — 
of the text for m.y context.^^ 

20. William Kidd (1650-1701). A British sea captain who, sent to 
suppress piracy in the Indian ocean in October, 1696, turned pirate ; he was 
arrested in Boston and hanged in London. It was rumored tiiat he had 
buried vast treasures somewhere on the southern coast of the United States, 
and for this frequent unsuccessful search was made. 



THE GOLD BUG 49 

^' I presume you expected to find a letter between 
the stamp and the signature/^ 

'' Something of that kind. The fact is, I felt irre- 
sistibly impressed with a presentiment of some vast 
good fortune impending. I can scarcely say why. 5 
Perhaps, after all, it was rather a desire than an 
actual belief; but do you know- that Jupiter^s silly 
words, about the bug being of solid gold, had a re- 
markable effect on my fancy? And then the series 
of accidents and coincidences — these were so very 10 
extraordinary. Do you observe how mere an acci- 
dent it was that these events should have occurred 
upon the sole day of all the year in which it has been, 
or may be, sufficiently cool for fire, and that without 
the fire, or without the intervention of the dog at the 15 
precise moment in which he appeared, I should never 
have become aware of the death^s-head, and so never 
the possessor of the treasure? ^^ 

'' But proceed — I am all impatience.^^ 

" Well; you have heard, of course, the many stories 20 
current — the thousand vague rumors afloat about 
money buried, somewhere upon the Atlantic coast, 
by Kidd and his associates. These rumors must have 
some foundation in fact. And that the rumors have 
existed so long and so continuously, could have re- 25 
suited, it appeared to me, only from the circumstance 
of the buried treasure still remaining entombed. 
Had Kidd concealed his plunder for a time, and 
afterward reclaimed it, the rumors would scarcely 
have reached us in their present unvarying form. 30 
You will observe that the stories told are all about 
money-seekers^ not about money-finders. Had the 



-?5! 



50 THE GOLD BUG 

pirate recovered his money^ there the affair would 
have dropped. It seemed to me that some accident 
— say the loss of a memorandum indicating its 
locality — had deprived him of the means of recover- 
5 ing it^ and that this accident had become known to 
his followers^ who otherwise might never have heard 
that treasure had been concealed at all, and who, 
busying themselves in vain, because unguided, at- 
tempts to regain it, had given first birth, and then 

10 universal currency, to the reports which are now so 
common. Have you ever heard of any important 
treasure being unearthed along the coast? ^^ 
" Never.^^ 
" But that Kidd's accumulations were immense, is 

15 well known. I took it for granted, therefore, that 
the earth still held them; and you will scarcely be 
surprised when I tell you that I felt a hope, nearly 
amounting to certainty, that the parchment so 
strangely found, involved a lost record of the place 

20 of deposit.'' 

" But how did you proceed? '' 
'' I held the vellum again to the fire, after increas- 
ing the heat, but nothing appeared. I now thought 
it possible that the coating of dirt might have some- 

25 thing to do with the failure; so I carefully rinsed the 
parchment by pouring warm water over it, and hav- 
ing done this, I placed it in a tin pan, with the skull 
downward, and put the pan upon a furnace of lighted 
charcoal. In a few minutes, the pan having become 

30 thoroughly heated, I removed the slip, and to my in- 
expressible joy, found it spotted, in several places, 
with what appeared to be figures arranged in lines. 



THE GOLD BJja 51 

Again I placed it in the pan^ and suffered it to re- 
main another minute. Upon taking it off^ the whole 
was just as you see it now/^ 

Here Legrand^ ha-ving re-heated the parchment^ 
submitted it to my inspection. The following char- 5 
acters were rudely traced^, in a red tint^ between the 
death^s-head and the goat: 

53ttt305))6*;4826)4j)4t);806*;48t8t60))85;lt);:t 
*8t83(88)5*f;46(; 88*96*?; 8)*J(;485);5*t2:*3:(;4956* 
2(5*— 4)8t8*;4069285);)6f8)4jJ;l(j9;48081;8:8jl;410 
8f85;4)485f528 806*81 (J9;48; (88; 4(f?34;48)4l;161;: 

188;t?; ■ 

" But/^ said I, returning him the slip^ " I am as 
much in the dark as ever. Were all the jewels of 
Golconda awaiting me on my solution of this enigma, 15 
I am quite sure that I should be unable to earn 
them.^^ 

'^ And yet/^ said Legrand^ ^^ the solution is by no 
means so difficult as you might be led to imagine 
from the first hasty inspection of the characters. 20 
These characters^ as anyone might readily guess^ form 
a cipher — that is to say, they convey a meaning; but 
then, from what is known of Kidd, I could not sup- 
pose him capable of constructing any of the more 
abstruse cryptographs. I made up my mind, at 25 
once, that this was of a simple species — such, how- 
ever, as would appear, to the crude intellect of the 
sailor, absolutely insoluble without the key.^^ 

15. Golconda. A city in India famous in the sixteenth century for the 
cutting and polishing of diamonds ; hence, a mine of wealth. 
25. Cryptographs (Gr. Jcrypto, hide + grapho^ write.) Cipher writings. 



52 THE GOLD BUG 

" And you really solved it? ^^ 
" Eeadily; I have solved others of an abstruseness 
ten thousand times greater. Circumstances^ and a 
certain bias of mind^ have led me to take interest in 

5 such riddles^ and it may well be doubted whether 
human ingenuity can construct an enigma of the 
kind which human ingenuity may not^ by proper ap- 
plication^ resolve. In fact^ havings once established 
connected and legible characters^ I scarcely gave a 

10 thought to the mere difficulty of developing their 
import. 

" In the present case^ — indeed in all cases of secret 
writing — the question regards the language of the 
cipher; for the principles of solution^, so far^ espe- 

15 cially^ as the more simple ciphers are concerned^ de- 
pend on^ and are varied by the genius of the par- 
ticular idiom. In general^ there is no alternative 
but experiment (directed by probabilities) of every 
tongue known to him who attempts the solution, 

20 until the true one be attained. But, with the cipher 
now before us, all difficulty was removed by the sig- 
nature. The pun upon the word ' Kidd ^ is appre- 
ciable in no other language than the English. But 
for this consideration I should have begun my at- 

25 tempts with the Spanish and French, as the tongues 
in which a secret of this kind would most naturally 
have been written by a pirate of the Spanish 
main. As it was, I assumed the cryptograph to be 
English. 

30 " You observe there are no divisions between the 
words. Had there been divisions, the task would 
have been comparatively easy. In such cases I 



THE GOLD BUG 53 

should have commenced with a collation and analysis 
of the shorter words^, and, had a word of a single let- 
ter occurred, as it is most likely {a or I, for example), 
I should have considered the solution as assured. 
But, there being no division, my first step was to 
ascertain,, the predominant letters, as well as the least 
frequent. Counting all, I constructed a table, thus: 



Of the character 8 there are 


33. 


y 


a 


26. 


4 


(C 


19. 


t) 


i( 


16. 


* 


u 


13. 


5 


ii 


13. 


6 


u 


11. 


tl 


iC 


8. 





u 


6. 


93 


a 


5. 


:3 


u 


4. 


? 


u 


3. 


if 


u 


2. 


— . 


iC 


1. 



10 



15 



20 



^^Now, in English, the letter which most fre- 
quently occurs is e. Afterward, the succession runs 
thus: (loidhnrstuycfglmw'bJc^qx^. E 
predominates, however, so remarkably that an indi- 25 
vidual sentence of any length is rarely seen, in which 
it is not the prevailing character. ' 

'^ Here, then, we have, in the very beginning, the 
ground-work for something more than a mere guess. 
The general use which may be made of the table is 30 



II Ilit M^M^ — : — ■ ly LPI 



54 THE GOLD BUG 

obvious — ^but, in this particular cipher, we shall only 
very partially require its aid. As our predominant 
character is 8^ we will commence by assuming it as 
the e of the natural alphabet. To verify the suppo- 
5 sition^ let us observe if the 8 be seen often in couples 
— for e is doubled with great frequency in English — 
in such words, for example, as ' meet/ ' fleet/ ' speed/ 
' seen/ ' been/ ' agree/ etc. In the present instance 
we see it doubled no less than five times, although 

10 the cryptograph is brief. 

" Let us assume 8, then, as e. Now, of all the words 
in the language, Uhe' is most usual; let us see, 
therefore, whether there are not repetitions of any 
three characters, in the same order of collocation, the 

15 last of them being 8. If we discover repetitions of 
such letters, so arranged, they will most probably 
represent the word ^ the.^ Upon inspection, we. find 
no less than seven such arrangements, the characters 
being ;48. We may, therefore, assume that ; repre- 

20 sents t, 4 represents A, and 8 represents e — the last 
being now well confirmed. Thus a great step has 
been taken. 

" But, having established a single word, we' are 
enabled to establish a vastly important point; that is 

25 to say, several commencements and terminations of 
other words. Let us refer, for example, to the last 
instance but one, in which the combination ;48 
occurs — not far from the end of the cipher. We 
know that the semicolon immediately ensuing is the 

30 commencement of a word, and, of the six characters 
succeeding this ' the,^ we are cognizant of no less than 
five. Let us set these characters down, thus, by the 



THE GOLD BUG 55 

letters we know them to represent^ leaving a space 
for the unknown : 

t eeth. 

, " Here we are enabled^ at once^ to discard the ^ th/ 
as forming no portion of the word commencing with 5 
the first t; since^ by experiment of the entire alpha- 
bet for a letter adapted to the vacancy^ we perceive 
that no word can be formed of which this th can be a 
part. We are thus narrowed into 

t ee, 10 

and^ going through the alphabet^ if necessary^ as be- 
fore^ we arrive at the word ' tree/ as the sole possible 
reading. We thus gain another letter^ r, represented 
by (^ with the words ^ the tree ^ in juxtaposition. 

^^ Looking beyond these words^ for a short distance^ 15 
we again see the combination ;48^ and employ it by 
way of termination to what immediately precedes. 
We have thus this arrangement: 

the tree ;4(t?34 the, 

or, substituting the natural letters, where known, it 20 
reads thus: 

the tree thr$?3h the, 

^^ Now, if, in place of the unknown characters, we 
leave blank spaces, or substitute dots, we read thus: 

the tree thr. . . h the, 25 



56 THE GOLD BUG 

when the word Hhrough ' makes itself evident at once. 
But this discovery gives us three new letters^, o, u, and 
g^ represented by $ ? and 3. 

'^ Looking now^ narrowly^ through the cipher for 
5 combinations of known characters^ we find^ not very 
far from the beginning, this arrangement^ 

83(88, or egree, 

which, plainly, is the conclusion of the word ^ degree/ 
and gives us another letter, d^ represented by f. 
10 ^^ Four letters beyond the word ^ degree,^ we per- 
ceive the combination 

;46(;88*. 

^' Translating the known characters, and represent- 
ing the unknown by dots, as before, we read thus: 

15 th rtee, 

an arrangement immediately suggestive of the word 
^ thirteen,^ and again furnishing us with the two new 
characters, i and n^ represented by 6 and *. 

^^ Eef erring, now, to the beginning of the crypto- 
20 graph, we find the combination, 

53ttt. 

" Translating as before, we obtain 

. good, 

which assures us that the first letter is 4, and that 
25 the first two words are ^ A good/ 

^^ To avoid confusion, it is now time that we 



THE GOLD BUG 57 

arrange our kej;, as far as discovered^ in a tabular 
form. It will stand thus: 



5 represents a 


t 


a 


d 


8 


i( 


e 


3 


i( 


g' 


4 


a 


h 


6 


a 


1 


* 


a 


n 


t 


u 





( 


a 


r 


9 


i( 


t 



10 



^^ We have^ therefore^ no less than ten of the most 
important letters represented^ and it will be unneces- 
sary to proceed with the details of the solution. 1 15 
have gaid enough to convince you that ciphers of this 
nature are readily soluble^ and to give you some in- 
sight into the rationale of their development. But 
be assured that the specimen before us appertains to 
the very simplest species of cryptograph. It now 20 
only remains to give you the full translation of the 
characters upon the parchment, as unriddled. Here 
it is: 

^^ ^A good glass in the bishop^s hostel in the devil's 
seat twenty-one degrees and thirteen minutes north- 25 
east and by north main branch seventh limb east side 
shoot from the left eye of the death's-head a bee line 
from the tree through the shot fifty feet out. 

^^ But/' said I, ^^ the enigma seems still in as bad 

18. Rationale (L. reor, reckon.) Reasoned exposition of principles, 
24. Hostel. {0,Fr.hospitale.^ Obsolete form of tfotel ; inn. 



58 THE GOLD BUG 

a condition as ever. How is it possible to extort a 
meaning from all this jargon about ' devil's seats/ 
' death's-heads,' and ' bishop's hotels? ' " 

" I confess/' replied Legrand^ " that the matter 

5 still wears a serious aspect^ when regarded with a 

casual glance. My first endeavor was to divide the 

sentence into the natural division intended by the 

cryptographist." 

" You mean^ to punctuate it? " 

10 " Something of that kind. 

"I reflected that it had been a point with the 
writer to run his words together without division^, so 
as to increase the difficulty of solution. JSTow^, a not 
over-acute man^ in pursuing such an object^ would be 

15 nearly certain to overdo the matter. When^ in the 
course of his composition^ he arrived at a break in his 
subject which would naturally require a pause^, or a 
point;, he would be exceedingly apt to run his char- 
acters, at this place, more than usually close together. 

20 If you will observe the MS., in the present instance, 
you will easily detect five such cases of unusual 
crowding. Acting on this hint, I made the division 
thus: 

" ' A good glass in the Bishop's hostel in the 
25 Devil's seat — twenty-one degrees and thirteen min- 
utes — northeast and by north — main branch seventh 
limb east side — shoot from the left eye of the death's- 
head — a bee-line from the tree through the shot fifty 
feet out.' " 

30 ^^Even this division," said I, leaves me still in 
the dark/' 



THE GOLD BUG 59 

"It left me also in the dark/' replied Legrand, 
" for a few days; during which I made diligent in- 
quiry^ in the neighborhood of Sullivan's Island^ for 
any building which went by the name of the 
' Bishop's Hotel '; for^ of course^ I dropped the obso- 5 
lete word ' hostel/ Gaining no information on the 
subject, I was on the point of extending my sphere 
of search, and proceeding in a more systematic man- 
ner, when one morning it entered into my head, quite 
suddenly, that this ' Bishop's Hostel ' might have 10 
some reference to an old family, of the name of Bes- 
sop, which, time out of mind, had held possession of 
an ancient manor-house, about four miles to the 
northward of the Island. I accordingly went over 
to the plantation, and reinstituted my inquiries 15 
among the older negroes of the place. At length 
one of the most aged of the women said that she had 
heard of such a place as Bessop's Castle, and thought 
that she could guide me to it, but that it was not a 
castle, nor a tavern, but a high rock. 20 

"I offered to pay her well for her trouble, and, 
after some demur, she consented to accompany me to 
the spot. We found it without much difficulty, when, 
dismissing her, I proceeded to examine the place. 
The ^ castle ' consisted of an irregular assemblage of 25 
cliffs and rocks — one of the latter being quite re- 
markable for its height as well as for its insulated and 
artificial appearance. I clambered to its apex, and 
then felt much at a loss as to what should be next 
done. 30 

"While I was busied in reflection, my eyes fell 
upon a narrow ledge in the eastern face of the rock. 



60 



THE GOLD BtJG 



perhaps a yard below the summit upon which I stood. 
This ledge projected about eighteen inches^ and was 
not more than a foot wide^ while a niche in the cliff 
just above it gave it a rude resemblance to one of 

5 the hollow-backed chairs used by our ancestors. I 
made no doubt that here was the ' devirs-seat' 
alluded to in the MS.^ and now I seemed to grasp the 
full secret of the riddle. 

" The ' good glass/ I knew^ could have reference 

10 to nothing but a telescope; for the word ' glass ^ is 
rarely employed in any other sense by seamen. Now 
here^ I at once saw a telescope to be used^ and a defi- 
nite point of view^ admitting no variation, from 
which to use it. Nor did I hesitate to believe that 

15 the phrases^ ' twenty-one degrees and thirteen min- 
utes/ and ' northeast and by north/ were intended as 
directions for the leveling of the glass. Greatly ex- 
cited by these discoveries^ I hurried home> procured 
a telescope^ and returned to the rock. 

20 " I let myself down to the ledge^ and found that it 
was impossible to retain a seat on it except in one 
particular position. This fact confirmed my precon- 
ceived idea. I proceeded to use the glass. Of 
course^ the ' twenty-one degrees and thirteen min- 

25 utes ^ could allude to nothing but elevation above the 
visible horizon, since the horizontal direction was 
clearly indicated by the words, ' northeast and by 
north.^ This latter direction I at once established by 
means of a pocket-compass; then, pointing the glass 

30 as nearly at an angle of twenty-one degrees of eleva- 
tion as I could do it by guess, I moved it cautiously 
up or down, until my attention was arrested by a cir- 



THE GOLD BUG 61 

cular rift or opening in the foliage of a large tree 
that overtopped its fellows in the distance. In the 
center of this rift I perceived a white spot^ but could 
not^ at first;, distinguish what it was. Adjusting the 
focus of the telescope^ I again looked^ and now made 5 
it out to be a human skull. 

- '' Upon this discovery I was so sanguine as to con« 
sider the enigma solved; for the phrase ' main branch, 
seventh limb, east side/ could refer only to the posi- 
tion of the skull upon the tree, while ' shoot from the 10 
left eye of the death^s-head ^ admitted, also, of but 
one interpretation, in regard to a search for buried 
treasure. I perceived that the design was to drop a 
bullet from the left eye of the skull, and that a bee- 
line, or, in other words, a straight line, drawn from 15 
the nearest point of the trunk through ' the shot ^ (or 
the spot where the bullet fell), and thence extended 
to a distance of fifty feet, would indicate a defi- 
nite point^ — and beneath this point I thought it 
at least possible that a deposit of value lay con- 20 
cealed.^^ 

^^AU this,^^ I said, "is exceedingly clear, and, 
although ingenious, still simple and explicit. When 
you left the Bishop's Hotel, what then? '' 

'' Why, having carefully taken the bearings of the 25 
tree, I turned homeward. The instant that I left 
' the devil's seat,' however, the circular rift vanished; 
nor could I get a glimpse of it afterward, turn as I 
would. What seems to me the chief ingenuity in 
this whole business, is the fact (for repeated experi- 30 
ment has convinced me it is a fact) that the circular 
opening in question is visible from no other attain- 



62 THE GOLD BUG 

able point of view than that afforded by the narroNV 
ledge upon the face of the rock. 

" In this expedition to the ' Bishop's Hotel ' I had 
been attended by Jupiter^, who had^ no doubt, ob- 
5 served, for some weeks past, the abstraction of my 
demeanor, and took especial care not to leave me 
alone. But, on the next day, getting up very early, 
I contrived to give him the slip, and went into the 
hills in search of the tree. After much toil I found 

10 it. When I came home at night my valet proposed 
to give me a flogging. With the rest of the adven- 
ture I believe you are as well acquainted as myself .'' 
" I suppose,'^ said I, " you missed the spot, in the 
first attempt at digging, through Jupiter's stupidity 

15 in letting the bug fall through the right instead of 
through the left eye of the skull.'' 

" Precisely. This mistake made a difference of 
about two inches and a half in the ' shot ' — that is to 
say, in the position of the peg nearest the tree; and 

20 had the treasure been beneath the ^ shot,' the error 
would have been of little moment; but ^ the shot,' 
together with the nearest point of the tree, were 
merely two points for the establishment of a line of 
direction; of course the error, however trivial in the 

25 beginning, increased as we proceeded with the line, 
and, by the time we had gone fifty feet, threw us 
quite off the scent. But for my deep-seated convic- 
tion that treasure was here somewhere actually 
buried, we might have had all our labor in vain." 

30 '^ I presume the fancy of the shull — of letting fall 
a bullet through the skull's eye — was suggested to 
Kidd by the piratical flag. No doubt he felt a kind 



THE GOLD BVQ 63 

of poetical consistency in recovering his money 
through this ominous insignium/' 

^^ Perhaps so; still I cannot help thinking that 
common sense had quite as much to do with the 
matter as poetical consistency. To be visible from 5 
the DeviFs seat it was necessary that the object^ if 
small, should be white; and there is nothing like 
your human skull for retaining and even increasing 
its whiteness under exposure to all vicissitudes of 
weather.'' 10^ 

" But your grandiloquence, and your conduct in 
swinging the beetle — how excessively odd! I was 
sure you were mad. And why did 5^ou insist upon 
letting fall the bug, instead of a bullet, from the 
skull?'' 15 

'' Why, to be frank, I felt somewhat annoyed by 
your evident suspicions touching my sanity, and so 
resolved to punish you quietly, in my own way, by a 
little bit of sober mystification. For this reason I 
swung the beetle, and for this reason I let it fall from 20 
the tree. An observation of yours about its great 
weight suggested the latter idea." 

" Yes, I perceive; and now there is only one point 
which puzzles me. What are we to make of the 
skeletons found in the hole?" 25 

" That is a question I am no more able to answer 
than yourself. There seems, however, only one 
plausible way of accounting for them — and yet it is 
. dreadful to believe in such atrocity as my suggestion 
would imply. It is clear that Kidd — if Kidd indeed 30 
secreted this treasure, which I doubt not — it is clear 
that he must have had assistance in the labor. But 



64 THE GOLD BUG 



this labor concluded, he may have thought it expe- 

f 



'^ dient to remove all participants in his secret. Per- 



haps a couple of blows with a mattock were sufficient, 
while his coadjutors were busy in the pit; perhaps it 
required a dozen — who shall tell?^^ 



'SlWi 



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land. With introduction and notes. 
Mailing price, 25 cents. 

Homer's Odyssey. Books I., V., 
IX., and X. Metrical translation by 
George Rowland. With introduction 
and notes. Mailing price, 25 cents. 

Horace's The Art of Poetry. Trans- 
lated in verse by George Rowland. 
Mailing price, 25 cents. 

®.*§*^''^ •'^ *^® German Iliad, 
with Related Stories. With a full 
%^*^u^^iX.^^^ review of the Influence 
of the Nibelungen Lied through Rich- 
ard Wagner. By Mary E. Burt. 
Illustrated. 128 pages, l2mo, cloth. 
Mailing price, 50 cents. 



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